Deserving of His Diamonds (21 page)

groomed brows rose. ‗Sì, signor,‘ she said and left with a soft click of the

door. Emilio traced a finger over Gisele‘s neat handwriting where she had

printed his name on the package. It was probably the jewellery he had given

her. He‘d been expecting her to send it back. He was surprised she hadn‘t

left it behind the day she had left. He could imagine she wouldn‘t want any

physical reminders of their relationship. The package was securely wrapped

with packing tape. He worked at it methodically. He could have used the

silver blade of his letter opener but this time he preferred to do it by hand.

He wanted to touch where her hands had touched. It was ridiculously

sentimental of him, but that just about summed him up these days. He peeled

back the tape and opened the cardboard box where a tissue-wrapped parcel

lay nestled safely in a bed of Styrofoam cushioning. His hands shook

uncontrollably as he peeled away the tissue wrap to find the pink hand-

embroidered blanket his tiny daughter had spent her short life wrapped in.

Emotion burned like fire at the back of his throat as he cradled it gently in

his hands. He felt as if he were holding his own heart. There was a single

sheet of paper in the box, neatly folded over. He took it out and opened it to

read: You said I would know when I‘m finally ready to say goodbye. You

were right. Gisele. Emilio felt a juggernaut of emotion assail him. He hadn‘t

been there at the beginning of their daughter‘s short life

or at the end, but he was to be with her for ever more. Gisele had given him

that privilege. How much had it cost her to do so? She had sent him her

heart. A lightning bolt of realisation hit him.

She had sent him her heart. Mio Dio, what had he done? He had sent her

away when

all he had ever wanted was to have her close. Why hadn‘t he told her how he

felt? Would it have hurt to have at least said the words? Even if she had still

left, it would have been better for him to tell her he loved her. She deserved

to know she was the only woman he had ever loved, could ever love. He had

been a coward. A pathetic coward, not man enough to own his need for her.

Too frightened to feel like that little abandoned boy he had once been, he

had kept his feelings locked away. He hadn‘t even admitted them to himself,

let alone to her. How could he have been so stupid?

So stubborn? So blind?

He pressed the intercom on his desk. ‗Carla? Are you still there?‘ he asked.

‗Sì, signor,‘ his secretary said. ‗I was just tidying my

desk.‘ ‗Get me a flight to Sydney,‘ he said. ‗I don‘t care how much it costs.

You can even hire a private jet. Buy one if you have to.‘ ‗Urgent business

again, Signor Andreoni?‘ Carla asked.

‗No,‘ he said. ‗This is personal.‘ This is my life. This is

my love. This is my everything.

Emilio saw the ‗Closed‘ sign on Gisele‘s shop as the taxi drew up outside.

His heart slipped like a Bentley on black ice. But then he realised it was only

seven-thirty in the morning. In his haste to get here he‘d forgotten the time

difference. He kicked himself for not having phoned first. But he had wanted

to see her face to face. He ached to see her face to face. He directed the

driver to Gisele‘s home address and waited with a thudding pulse for the

journey to be over. He mentally rehearsed his speech. He had been awake

for the entire flight, thinking about what he would say, but in the end he

knew he really only had three words to say to her: I love you. The taxi

turned the corner into her street and Emilio‘s stomach nosedived when he

saw the ‗Sold‘ sign on her flat. He stumbled out of the taxi, issuing a

brusque order over his shoulder for the driver to wait. There was no answer

when he pressed the doorbell. He peered through gaps in the drawn blinds

but there was no sign of her being inside. ‗Can I help you?‘ an older female

voice asked. Emilio swung around to see an elderly lady with a walking

frame standing by the letterboxes. ‗I‘m looking for Gisele Carter,‘ he said.

‗Do you know where she is?‘ ‗She left a little while ago,‘ the old lady said.

Panic gripped Emilio by the throat. ‗Left?‘

‗Yes, she‘s taking a holiday before she moves to her new home,‘ she said.

‗She‘s meeting her mother and her sister in Queensland. A tropical island, I

think she said. I can‘t remember the name of it now.‘ Emilio mentally

groaned. How many tropical islands were there in Queensland? Hundreds.

How on earth was he going to track her down? ‗When did she leave?‘ he

asked. ‗You just missed her,‘ the old lady said. ‗She only left half an hour or

so ago.‘ ‗Do you know what airline she was booked on?‘ Emilio asked as he

walked quickly backwards to the waiting taxi. ‗It‘s really important. I need

to see her. I‘m going to tell her I love her. I‘m going to ask her to marry me.‘

The old lady smiled as she told him the carrier‘s name. ‗I think I remember

now the island,‘ she said. ‗Hamilton Island—yes, that‘s the one.‘ Emilio

rushed to the gate lounge after he had cleared Security but it was empty. The

illuminated board said the flight was closed.

He was too late.

He scraped a hand through his hair and stumbled to the window overlooking

the tarmac. The plane was backing out, preparing its journey down the

runway, its lights along the wings flashing in preparation. A choked-up

feeling seized his chest. He couldn‘t breathe. He planted his hands on the

glass in front of him for support.

He was too late.

He rested his head on the window. He knew this feeling. It was the same

feeling he had on that step. He remembered all too well the feeling of being

abandoned, of having no one to turn to, of not knowing what was going to

happen next. The uncertainty, the bleakness, the loneliness, the aching

emptiness … ‗Emilio?‘ The skin on the back of his neck prickled. He was

imagining it, just like he had imagined his mother‘s voice, reaching out to

him in the dark while he had been sitting on that cold stone step for all of

those long, lonely, terrifying hours. He slowly turned and saw Gisele

standing in front of him. She looked pale, wraithlike, just like a ghost. Was

his mind playing tricks on him? It must be. He blinked a couple of times but

she didn‘t disappear. ‗You sold your flat.‘ What an inane thing to say, he

chided himself. ‗Yes,‘ she said. ‗I felt it was time to move on.‘ He shifted his

weight from foot to foot. ‗I thought you were on that flight.‘ Even more

banal. Why couldn‘t he just say what he wanted to say? ‗My flight isn‘t for

another forty minutes,‘ she said. ‗I‘m going to Heron Island. Mum and I are

meeting Sienna there. Mum thought it might be a good chance for us all to

get to know each other. It leaves from the other gate down there.‘ She

pointed farther down the concourse. ‗Oh … I thought you were going to

Hamilton Island,‘ he said. ‗Your neighbour said … The board said the flight

was closed … I saw it leaving.‘ He stopped because he was rambling like a

tongue-tied lovesick fool. Gisele rolled her lips together, looking just like a

shy,

uncertain schoolgirl. ‗I was coming back from the restroom and saw you

standing here,‘ she said. ‗I thought I must be imagining things. Why are you

here?‘ ‗I wanted to see you,‘ Emilio said. ‗I wanted to thank you for … for

giving me our daughter‘s blanket.‘ A shadow passed over her face before

she lowered her gaze. ‗She was made in Italy,‘ she said in a tiny whispersoft

voice. ‗I thought it was appropriate that a part of her rested there too.‘

Emilio felt his emotions rise like a flash flood within him. He had no control

over it. His chest ached with the pressure. It was building to a crescendo. He

felt every tidemark. They were etched indelibly on his soul. He brushed

away the tears that were falling with the back of his hand. ‗What if you still

need to hold her sometimes?‘ he asked. Her bottom lip quivered

uncontrollably. ‗It‘s your turn to hold her.‘ ‗She needs both of us to hold

her,‘ he said, gulping back a ragged sob. ‗No one can take your place. No

one can ever take your place. She loves you. I love you. I‘ve always loved

you. Please come home, cara. Come back to me. Come back to us.‘ She

paused for an infinitesimal moment before she stumbled towards him, a

flurry of arms and emotions that he welcomed with every cell of his being.

He had never felt so close to another human being. Her arms wrapped

around his waist, but he felt them around his heart. ‗Il mio prezioso,‘ he said.

‗My precious one. I thought I had lost you for ever.‘ Gisele clutched at him,

terrified he would suddenly vaporise, that she would open her eyes and find

this was

all a dream. Had he really said those wonderful, amazing words? She looked

up at him with tears streaming from her eyes. ‗Do you really love me?‘ she

asked. ‗You‘re not just saying it?‘ He grabbed her hand and pressed it

against his thudding heart. ‗I love you, tesore mio,‘ he said. ‗My life is

meaningless without you. I can‘t imagine how I will cope if you don‘t say

you will marry me. You will, won‘t you? Marry me, I mean?‘ She smiled at

him with immeasurable joy. ‗Of course I will marry you,‘ she said. ‗I can‘t

think of anything I want more. I love you.‘ He crushed her to him again,

holding her tightly, as if he never wanted to let her go. ‗You are everything

to me, cara,‘ he said. ‗I am ashamed of how long it has taken me to realise

how much you mean to me. How can you ever forgive me for taking so long

to come to my senses? How can you ever forgive me for how I misjudged

you, which started this crazy affair in the first place?‘ ‗Don‘t torture yourself any more,‘ she said. ‗We were both victims of circumstances beyond our

control.‘ Emilio held her from him so he could look into her eyes. ‗I was

such a fool. I can‘t believe I got it so wrong. If only I had stopped and

thought about who you were as a person, your values, the strength of

character you had demonstrated so many times. I ignored all of that. And

then, to add insult to injury, I practically forced you back in my life. I

wanted to wipe the slate clean but you taught me that it‘s not always

possible. The hurts and blows and mistakes of life are things you sometimes

have to carry with you. You can‘t erase all of them. Those are the very

things that make us who we are.‘

Gisele stroked his lean cheek with her hand. ‗I love who you are,‘ she said.

‗I love everything about you.‘ He rested his forehead on hers. ‗Cara, I want

you to know that if you can‘t bear the thought of having another baby, then

that is fine. God knows I‘ve got enough on my hands with all the street kids

I‘m taking in. Daniela has brought in some of her friends. Having you will

be enough. More than enough.‘ Gisele blinked back fresh tears. ‗For all this

time I could never imagine going through a pregnancy again,‘ she said. ‗I

couldn‘t bear the thought of going through that terrible loss again. But this

time you‘ll be by my side. I think I could handle just about anything with

you standing beside me.‘ He cupped her face in his hands, his gaze soft and

tender as it held hers. ‗And that‘s exactly where I plan to be for the rest of

our lives,‘ he said. ‗By your side, loving you, protecting you and

worshipping you with my body and my soul.‘ Gisele closed her eyes as his

lips sealed hers in a kiss of promise and hope and healing. She wrapped her

arms around his waist, leaning into his strength, delighting in the feeling of

being loved and cherished. It was like finally coming home. Sienna Baker

was sitting by the pool on Heron Island, sipping a Manhattan when she got

the text message from Gisele. She picked up her phone and, propping her

sunglasses on her forehead, squinted against the bright sunlight as she read

the words: Sienna, sorry, slight

change of plan. Mum‘s on her way but I‘m off to Italy to prepare for my

wedding. PS Will you be my bridesmaid? Gisele X.

*****

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of

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known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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